The drow have led over a hundred halfling townspeople into a field outside of town and tied them to stakes in the ground. As the party and their allies approach the drow release giant spiders, who proceed to tear the townspeople apart. It is a brutal display which shakes the morale of the party’s forces.

Not only this but the mercenaries have chained many townspeople to the wooden palisade around the town. Careless action or bombardment will have a terrible cost.

Rolen rouses the troops with a speech and orders Sven to begin bombarding the mercenary positions. The first day of battle begins.

The lines push back and forth outside of town, neither side gaining a clear advantage. The party manages to kill Kurtis’s battle priest Harken Olar. This creates an opening in the lines and they advance towards the town gate.

Lethris Ulshar call upon he most powerful ally, the red dragon Xecorra Darkfire. With the dragons aid the party’s forces are pushed back away from the gates.

The first day is mostly a draw. The party has advanced nearer to the gates but has taken significant losses. The plan for the next day is clear, they must bring down Xecorra or they will stand no chance of entering Stoneybrook.

Sven has amassed a significant army and has been striking back against the mercenaries. The party decided to go after the leaders of the Iron Collar company. They manage to eliminate several of Kutis’s officers and Rolen manages to infiltrate the main camp. There he learns the Kurtis has hired the Velvet Dagger, a band of exiled drow mercenaries, led by the ruthless Lethris Ulshar.

Rolen shadows Kurtis Levin into his base of operations, a bank in the northern part of town. Kurtis’s private office is in the banks vault, there Rolen observes that Kurtis does not sleep or eat. He finds a magic correspondence box, with the following note:

Slave

I am well aware of Strahd’s useless machinations and plans regarding the Tyvor Empire. But as you are aware, his influence no longer holds in the tower given his recent failures. Our plans no longer require the service of these pitiful mortals.

When the drow we have provided to you arrive, you are to wipe the halflings out and return.

Rolen and Rangrim depart for Tyvor City to once again seek the aid of Rene Dovaram. Fred and the Guardian make battle plans with Sven. The drow arrive in 5 days, they must be ready to take back the town. Renee assembles his best men and heads south with Herbert Morlan. They arrive a day before the drow.

Unexpectedly Connor MacEwan and his scouting force arrive that evening, they have read Fred’s call for assitance.

Herbert asks the party to defend him while his men loot the library. The undead hordes outside have located them and a long grueling battle is fought while Herbert and Rene’s men take as much as possible from the library. Strahd arrives and battles Rene. Using some evil spell Rene’s sword burns in his hands and paralyzes him. Rangrimm manages to drag Rene to safety.

Malek puts himself in Strahd’s path.

“Go my friends! My purpose is finally fulfilled. Now let us see if I can take a few undead horrors with me to my rest!”

The party escapes through the circle, leaving Malek behind to meet his final rest.

Renee introduces the party to Archmage Herbert Morlan at the Mage’s College. Herbert is able to decipher the architects writings and determines how to open the Vault. The key is silver plaque, so only Rolan may enter. Renee joins the party and brings some of his soldiers through to guard Herbert’s ritual.

Herbert successfully opens the Vault and Rolan enters. In it he finds The Guardian, a dragonkin who was sealed into the Vault when it was built. The guardian reveals that vault is a static point of time in the past. He gives Rolan the broken pieces of , The Shame the legendary spear that killed the golden dragon Bethsara. The pieces are encased a large cylindrical crystal.

When leaving the architects home the party is ambushed by a huge undead Bone Yard. The party is victorious but Sariel falls. Unable to resurect her the party hides in a nearby building planning what to do. Hours later the house they are hiding in is torn to pieces by magical force.

Tan Lin has arrived to claim his daughter. The party is helpless to resist. They offer him the artifact that they claimed from Strahd’s mansion. Lin crushes the artifact disdaining it as a toy. The party is forced to hand over Sariel and the Orb, Lin takes them and leaves.

Malek leads the party to the library where there is a teleportation circle. They use it to travel to Tyvor to seek aid from Renne Dovaram

In the dark tunnels Sariel begins to hallucinate. She sees visions of a metal rod draped with chains. After searching her equipment she finds that the box that holds the Orb has been scorched from the inside. Examining the Orb she finds that the crack has been fused, this is an ill omen.

With Malek’s aid the party navigates the sewers and finds the home of Emari. In the architects home the find his writtings about the Vault and how it was created. Much of the complicated arance diagrams are beyond their understanding, but they do find a magic ritual needed to open the vault.

Rolan finds an image of himself etched into a silver plaque, the plaque appears to be several hundred years old, predating his own birth.

On a hunch the party decides to travel east to the ruins of the dragon city of Belsis in search of aid or artifacts.

The journey is long but eventually they reach the ruins of the great city. The party enters into what used to be the city harbor. Among the ships smashed by the cataclysm the are hunted by undead. Some scouting by Rolan reveals an army of undead and necromancers is digging up the ruins. They seem to be searching for something in particular in addition to loading up all of the dessicated corpses they find onto large wagons.

In an effort to evade the undead horde the party finds it way into the city sewers. In the sewer the party encounters the ghost of Malek Silverwing. Malek has roamed the ruins of the city underground since he was killed there on the Day of Cataclysm. Malek explains that in life he was the guardian of the Mage Architect Emari. He attempted to flee with his master through the sewers but was crushed when the tunnel collapsed. Emari was attempting to flee with the secret of the Belsis Vault. Malek’s spirit remains until he can pass the Vault on to someone so he agrees to help the party find it.

The party heads south in the Halfling Protectorate State. They arrive in Fred’s old hometown, the halfling city of Stoneybrook. The city is under martial law and entrance restricted by a large group of mercenaries. The mercenaries are the Iron Collar company and have been hired by the local Imperial commander to keep order. Fred meets with his uncle Sven who informs him the the Imperial Guard and their mercenaries have most halfings in a state of slavery. Many are sent to farm camps and forced to work the fields. The empire has had trouble maintaining its food supplies so they have decided to force the halfings to produce food.

Fred and the party decide that they want to help Sven liberate the camps and drive out the empire and their mercenaries. They supply Sven with money and begin to scout the camps.

After some time they discover that the mercenaries are transporting something around the town. The party investigates this shipment and find it is heavily guarded. Once of the large metal wagons breaks open and ghouls pour out. The party fight the ghouls and other undead horrors that emerge from the wagons. The find evidence the Corpsetower in somehow involved in this shipment of horrors.

Fred pens a letter for wide release urging halflings and other like minded people to rise up against the mercenaries.

(To whom it concerns:)

Although this is a minor infraction of justice in the world the oppression of my race and family is but an atrocity that sits atop the cusp of a larger evil. The military oppression of the halfling protectorate is not power for power’s sake as my party and I have recently intercepted a convoy transporting a corpse golem and ghouls for what is sure to be for some military aim as they are not needed to oppress the population. Our forces, even as they grow, will not be able to stand up to such a threat without assistance.

It may strengthen your resolve to know that the root of the wild is still alive. I have been chosen as a lesson and witness nightly visions of it’s continued life. I know this is dangerous knowledge and treat it as such and hope this letter finds its way un-intercepted. I have also been given visions of the great tree’s avatar: the sapling, peeking in between the battle lines of a great future conflict. I ask that you send your assistance before it is too late as the world you know will not be able to be one to come back to if we are not successful which is all the more difficult if justice is not see for my race.

There are abominations of unlife afoot. Knowing this as my party and I have extinguished many of them as well as their cults from this world as we search for their origin. We have been asailed climbing the godswall by assassins from the shadow realm. Having reached the second monastary of the seekers we ventured into the mountain and discovered evidence of an escaped abomination known as an atropal. It may also be of note that the vampire )Strahd Von Zarovich is still existing in unlife as my party and I met in Laketown although we failed to destroy him. Azzadral to my knowledge has also been alerted to this call toward preparation and is surely working against us to some evil end.

Although my plea is humble there is a larger storm gathering. Let us find mutual allegiance on the battlefield as symbolic shelter against the gathering clouds. My, as well as my cohorts and race’s survival depend on it as I have come to believe yours will eventually also.